The world’s most powerful onshore wind turbine has officially been switched on in China. With blades reaching heights comparable to the Great Pyramid of Giza, the turbine boasts an energy capacity of 15 megawatts – enough to supply electricity to approximately 160,000 households.
This new onshore model more than doubles the power rating of its closest counterparts in the West, and even rivals the performance of the Western-world’s leading offshore turbines, which typically have a higher capacity than onshore models.
With China’s new massive onshore turbine now connected to the grid, it will next undergo a year of operational testing, including nearly 2,000 performance evaluations to ensure the reliability of its components and overall design under real-world conditions.
Industry critics have expressed previous concerns about the challenges associated with producing and deploying such large turbines, such as supply chain constraints and the logistical complexities of transporting oversized components.
However, China appears undeterred, as in addition to their latest large-scale onshore turbine, the country also announced plans last month for a 25-megawatt offshore wind turbine, which similarly would be the most powerful such structure of its kind.
